MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Madison Keys has misplaced to fellow American and fellow podcaster Jessica Pegula on the Australian Open.
No. 6 seed Pegula defeated No. 9 seed Keys 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Area to advance to the quarterfinals. Pegula, who had by no means received a Grand Slam, took the primary set in simply 32 minutes.
Pegula led 4-1 within the first set, then broke to take the lead within the second and shortly surged to 4-1 once more as she struggled with Keys’ serve. The match ended when Keys hit a forehand into the web.
“All through this event, I have been enjoying very properly, seeing the ball and hitting the ball, and I wished to remain true to that,” mentioned Pegula, 31. “Then I checked out among the issues she may do and felt like I may do a fairly good job.
“Once we had the lead, we tried to guard it as a lot as attainable.
“Even when she acquired again right into a little bit of a rhythm, I attempted to give attention to what I wanted to do and the patterns I wanted to look out for.”
Pegula and Keys have confronted one another 3 times, with Keys profitable the final two. However on Monday, it was Pegula who dominated more often than not together with his serve accuracy and few unforced errors.
That is Pegula’s fourth time reaching the quarter-finals in Australia. Her greatest efficiency in a serious was dropping to Aryna Sabalenka within the 2024 US Open closing.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
